Car-coupling.



PATENTBD OCT. 9, 1906.

C. MBTTERHAUSEN. GAR CQUPLING. APPLICATION FILED JUNB1a,19o6.

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\ C. METTBRHAUSEN.

CAR COUPLING. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1a* 190e..

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CARL METTERHAUSEN, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAR-COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 9, 1906.

Application filed June 13,1906. Serial No. 321,542.

To all Loh/071e it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL METTERHAUSEN,

` a citizen of the United States, residing at Chiplan view and the other in horizontal section.

Fig. 2 is a view of said couplers, showing one of them in side elevation and the other in vertical section. Fig. 3 is a face view of one of said couplers, and Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section through the coupler on dotted line 4 4 of Fig. 1. Figs. 5 and 6 are views similar to those of Figs. 1 and 2, respectively,

illustrating another embodiment of my 1nvention. Fig. 7 is a face view of said lastmentioned embodiment. Fig. 8 is a transverse vertical section through a coupler on the plane of dotted line 8 8 of Fig. 5. Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view of the coupling-pin and retaining-spring employed in the embodiment shown in Figs. 5 to 8.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 4,

Y the car-coupler comprises a draw-head 1,

which may be a malleable iron or steel casting, said draw-head comprising an upper wall 2, a lower wall 3, two vertical side Walls 4, and a contact-face 5, adapted to abut against the contact-face of a coupler carried upon the adjacent end of another car. The draw-head 1 is intended to be secured to the draw-bar of a car in any well-known or preferred way. The side walls 4 form between them a longitudinal throatway 6, opening upon the face of the draw-head. In the embodiment under consideration the throatway 6 is of a cross-sectional area just suflicient to receive the coupling-link to be hereinafter described. 7 represents ribs formed upon the inner walls of said throatway to limit the inward movement of said coupling-link. An opening 8 extends vertically through the draw-head 1, said opening being rectangular in cross-section and elongated transversely of the draw-head. The opening 8 is adapted to receive a coupling-pin 9, having a loop or handle 10 at its upperend and a rib or flange 11 on one or more of its sides adapted to overlie the upper wall 2, and thus support the pin 9 in the draw-head. At the point where it passes through the upper wall 2 the pin 9 is rectangular, as at 12, whereby it is prevented from rotating in the opening 8. Below the rectangular portion 12 the pin 9 is rounded or beveled, as at 13, to facilitate the movement past it of the coupling-link to be presently described. The pin is beveled on opposite sides, as shown in Fig. 1, in order that it may be reversible. Said pin is slidable in its opening 8 transversely of the draw-head, but is normally held at the inner end of said opening by a leaf-spring 14, secured at one end to the outer side of one of the side walls 4 and provided at its other end with a block 15, adapted to bear against the pin 9. The inward movement of the block 15 is limited by the engagement of shoulders 16 on said block with the side wall 4, so as to prevent said block from pressing against the coup-A with the coupler hereinbefore described. Said link is in bar form with substantially straight parallel sides, and it is of substantially the same horizontal width and vertical thickness as the throatway, whereby when the link is inserted in the throatway said link will be held from any considerable lateral or vertical movement. The opposite ends 20 of said link are in hook form, the hooks at opposite ends facing in opposite directions. The ends of the link are made wedging to facilitate its entrance into the throatway 6 of the draw-head.

In operation a coupling-link 19 may be inserted into the throatway 6 of the drawhead, and a pin 9 placed in the opening 8, said pin lying within the hooked inner end 20 of said link and preventing its withdrawal. A draw-head thus provided with a couplinglink may be automatically coupled to the draw-head upon another car by bringing the cars together, the link 19 upon the one drawhead entering the throatway 6 in the other IOO IIO

- A draw-head and forcing the pin 9 in said lastmentioned draw-head to one side in its opening until the hooked inner end of said link has passed the pin, whereupon the spring 14 automatically places the pin in position within the hook of the link and locks the drawheads together.` As the throatway 6 corresponds in cross-sectional size and form to the coupling-link 19, said link is held firmly in place and prevented from working the pin 9 upward and out of the draw-head, as a link loosely held in the draw-head tends to do. To uncouple cars, the pin 9 is withdrawn from its opening 8. y

The throatway in the coupler hereinbefore described being of a size just suflicient to receive the coupling-link, it is desirable that the couplers upon all the cars of a transportation system be similar, or at least that they be supported at substantially the same height above the rails in order that the throatways may register when cars are brought together for coupling. It is often desirable, however, that a coupler be adapted to cooperate with various types of couplers, and in Figs. 5 to 9 I have shown a modification of the coupler hereinbefore described which is adapted to coact with couplers supported at varying heights and having throatways of various dimensions. The draw-head 21, Fig. 5, is

generally similar to the draw-head 1, but is provided with a throatway 22 of greater height than the throatway 6 in order to re- .ceive a coupling-link 19, carried at varying heights in the couplers of other cars. It will thus be seen that there is an opportunity for vertical movement or play on the part of the link in the throatway 22, and to prevent such vertical movement from pushing the coupling-pin 23 up and out of the draw-head I form upon the outer side of said pin one or more grooves 24, adapted to receive a corresponding number of ribs 25 upon the face of the block 26, secured to the 'spring 27. By

reason of the interengagement of said pin and block the pin is held from upward movement. In order to permit of withdrawing the pin when it is desirable to uncouple cars, I provide means conveniently operable from the upper side of the draw-head for disengaging said block from said pin, said disengaging means comprising a shaft 28, rotatably mounted in openings 29 in the draw-head, said shaft being provided with an operatingarm 3() at its upper end and with one or more cams 31, adapted to engage the spring 27 and force it outward to withdraw the block 26 from engagement with the pin 23.

The operation of the coupler last described is substantially the same as that of the other embodiment. In uncoupling cars, however, it is necessary first to release the pin 23 by means of the cam-shaft 28, as just described, before said pin can be withdrawn by the operator. t

I claim as my invention- 1. A car-coupler comprising a draw-head having a horizontal throatway and a vertical opening in the walls of said draw-head, s aid opening being partly within and partly without said throatway, a coupling-pin transversely slidable in said opening, and a spring tending to hold said pin in said throatway.

2. A car-coupler comprising a draw-head having a throatway therein, a coupling-link of substantially the same width as that of the throatway, said link having a recess in one of its sides, means in said throatway for limiting inward movement of said link, and a coupling-pin horizontally and transversely slidable in said draw-head and adapted to lie in said recess.

3. A car-coupler comprising a draw-head having a throatway therein'formed between substantially straight parallel walls, and a vertical opening through said draw-head, eX- tending partly within and vpartly without said throatway, a non-rotatable beveled coupling-pin slidably mounted in said vertical opening, limiting-ribs in said throatway at the inner side of said opening, a couplinglink in bar form having substantially straight parallel sides and of a width substantially the same as that of the throatway, said link having a wedging, hooked inner end, and means tending to hold said coupling-pin at the inner side of said vertical opening.

4. A car-coupler comprising a draw-head, a coupling-link, a pin vertically movable in said draw-head adapted to engage said link, and a spring having a block thereon, saidpin and block having portions adapted to interengage for preventing upward movement of said pin.

5. A car-coupler comprising a draw-head having an elongated vertical opening therein and a throatway, a coupling-pin non-rotatably and slidably mounted in said elongated opening, said pin being beveled on two of its opposite sides' where it passes through said throatway, and a coupling-link having a wedging hooked end ada ted to be engaged by said pin, and means or holding said pin in 'engagement with said link.

y 6. A car-coupler comprising a draw-head, a coupling-link, a pin vertically movable in said draw-head adapted to engage said link, said pin having a groove in one of its sides, a leaf-spring fixed at one end to said drawhead, and a block fixed to the other end of said spring, said block having a rib thereon adapted to enter the groove in said pin.

7. A.carcoupler comprising a draw-head, a link, a pin for connecting said draw-head and link, a spring having a block adapted to engage said pin and hold it from movement in one direction, and a locking-shaft rotatably mounted in said draw-head and provided with means for engaging said spring to disengage said pin and block.

IOL1

Iil

8. A car-coupler comprising a draw-head, a link, a pin for connecting said draw-head and said link, a spring having a block thereon adapted to engage said pin, a locking-shaft rotatably mounted in said draw-head, and a cam on said shaft adapted to move said spring to disengage said pin and block.

9. A car-coupler comprising a couplinglink and a draw-head adapted to receive said coupling-link and having means Jfor confining said link therein against lateral and vertical movement, said draw-head having a vertical opening therethrough7 part of said opening intersecting the space occupied by said link, and part of said opening being located outside of the space occupied by said link, a coupling-pin horizontally and transversely slidable in said opening, and means tending to hold said pin from movement in one direction. Y

10. A car-coupler comprising a draw-head having a throatway therein; a pin transversely movable in said draw-head into and pin has reached the eXtreme inner end of its movement, whereby said pin is left free from tensional contact With said block.

l CARL METTERHAUSEY. Witnesses:

M. M. DALEY, L. L. MILLER. 

